GRATITUDE 164 Just keep swimming

Looks like I am not going to make it to my goal of 365 GRATITUDE posts...but as Dori says in Finding Nemo, I'm going to "just keep swimming, just keep swimming!"  So much to be thankful for these past two weeks that I've missed on the blog.  I was just so exhausted from experiencing all of it, that my blogging went down the tubes! Oh well, here's a recap of some of the things I am most thankful for these past two weeks!  

Thankful for:

 The fact that we're NOT MOVING!!!  What does a mummy have to do with that, you ask?  Well, I'll get to that!  We've had our house on the market for about a month, just praying and seeking what God might have for us.  We wanted to downsize into a less nice neighborhood so we could give and save more.  We got a few offers but nothing close to what would make it worth it for us to move.  So we took our house off the market last weekend and we're staying!  We both felt relief, as showing a house IS A LOT OF WORK!  We were a little sad that God didn't open the door for us to move but we also have a lot to celebrate!  He's provided this home for us and it's clear now that HE wants us to stay.  So we decided to throw and big "housewarming" HEHE party with our neighbors to celebrate that we are staying.  We love our neighbors and they love us so celebration was appropriate.   The night included wine and dessert, lots of sparklers, pop-its and confetti guns, and a great neighborly time!  Somehow we ended up wrapping Sierra, our very lively and animated neighbor as a mummy at the end of the night.  

Thankful:

That God made it clear what his will for us is regarding our home.
That he is all wise and knows what is best for us.
That we have a great home and a great neighbors, TRULY a gift from him.
That Andy leads our family is wanting to live for eternity, not for here and now.

Another reason I've been off the blog is because SUMMER is HERE!  Jack is home with me all the time, as well as Judah...which means I am one BUSY MAMA!!  That boy has so much energy and talks non-stop.  I am adjusting to them home more and I am really thankful for this chance to be with him more.  Here my kiddos are playing with a rice sensory bin that we made for my summer camp.  (more on that later)

Thankful:

for summer
for big thunderstorms every afternoon
for chances to connect with my kids more than I do in the school year
for a chance to work on training them in ways I can't during the school year
for grace to keep going when the days are BUSY and long
for friends to take Jack and give me a break sometimes

Also during my last two weeks MIA on my blog, my in laws came to celebrate EG's birthday.  This is the second year Kathi has come for her bday and Mary got to come this year.  LET ME JUST SAY, these ladies make everything a celebration!  SO FUN to have them here with us!  So fun.  And it happened to overlap with my week teaching camp/our last week showing our house so they were a HUGE help.  I did zero cleaning the week of my camp and our house would have imploded without them here!  

 Somehow we always end up with a week long celebration of EG's birthday.  We had a pie, a Chinese cake, and a cupcakes.  Our friends Liu Yi and Zeno, who ADORE our kiddos also came by for one of the celebrations!

 Mary is amazing.  She helped me A TON with teaching my camp and she is just delightful.  So fun to spend time with her.  Gosh, I am blessed with an amazing family!

 Thankful:

For Kathi and how she makes everything special
For the way she loves me like a daughter
For Mary, delightful, fun, and so helpful
For my Emma Grace.  God is writing an incredible story in your life, Emma Grace.  (And in mine through you)  You are a gift from God to me.
For Emma Grace's excitement over her metal detector, oh my!!!

And in the midst of all the chaos (mostly delightful...all except showing our house) was my week to teach at Emma Grace's summer camp.  Can you guess what I taught about?

 I had 6 kids and we traveled ALL OVER China, learned the language, explored the arts,  celebrated the new year, and now we are pretty much Chinese!

In all seriousness, even though it was A TON of work, it was a really fun week and gave me an opportunity to do something I really love:  work with kids in an educational capacity.  I feel like most of my job these days (being a wife and mom) hits on things I am not very good at:  discipline to KEEP doing laundry and make meals, train my kids, etc. But making paper dragons and teaching kids Chinese through silly games happens to be my super power! HEHE  

Thankful:

That Kathi and Mary held down the fort while I taught

For this little camp that is PERFECT for Emma Grace

For Sarah, my friend from church who runs the camp,  and our deepening friendship

For the precious kids who came to my camp

For the fun we had

For a chance to use my gifting and creativity 

For the realization that I AM INCREDIBLY BLESSED that I don't have to work outside the home! 

Lots to be thankful for these past two weeks!